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Courses : Syllabi : 780

Geography 780 Participatory Geographic Information Systems

Instructor

Course Description

The idea of participatory geographic information systems (PGIS) centers on the designs, processes, and
methods that facilitate collaboration of multiple individuals for planning and decision-making. PGIS
integrate people, geographic information representations, exploratory tools and structured discussion in
order to synergize knowledge, expertise, and experience of multiple stakeholders. This seminar provides a
setting to discuss the motivations, development strategies, and use of collaborative, participatory, and
public participation geographic information systems in various application domains including land use,
transportation and water resource planning and decision-making. The content of the seminar is organized
into four sections. The first section outlines the origin and boundaries of collaborative GIS. It also explains
the relationship between the seemingly overlapping terms of collaborative, participatory, and public
participation GIS as well as surveys of the field. The next section provides examples of
collaborative/participatory/public participation GIS. The following section addresses methodological and
technical issues of designing and building collaborative/participatory GIS. The final section focuses on
the evaluation of collaborative/participatory GIS designs. The required outcome of the seminar is a research
paper that deals with a topic of your choice contextualized by reading materials, guest lectures by leading
experts on PGIS delivered via compressed video, seminar discussions as well as your own literature survey.

Prerequisites

Six units of upper division or graduate level courses in spatial analytic techniques. Interest in
collaborative/participatory/Internet GIS and in social issues of using GIS as empowering and controlling
(at the same time) technology.

Grading

Your grade in this course will be based on the following elements:

Class Participation: 30%

Research Paper: 70%

Class participation - All members of the seminar are responsible for reading at least two of the suggested
papers each week. The more your read, the better perspective you have. All students are responsible for
submitting electronically to the instructor two discussion questions/issues based on your
interests – one question/issue for each of the readings. The questions should be submitted by 3:00 PM on
the day before the weekly seminar meeting. Students should also bring a copy of questions to each seminar
meeting for reference and for keeping a record of issues discussed.

Research paper - Please see/email the instructor early in the course to discuss a research topic of interest
to you. The research paper will be your perspective on the design and use of collaborative/participatory
GIS in relation to a topic of your choice - preferably your own research. The paper is to be approximately
10 double-spaced pages in length not including the diagrams and references.

Books and Materials

No text for this seminar; all the required readings are collected from the literature.

Weekly Topics

Week

Topic

Week One

What research interests in collaborative/participatory GIS do we hold?

Week Two

Assuming that we all have some understanding about what a GIS can do, what are different perspectives
on collaborative/participatory/public participation public participation GIS?

Week Three

Public participation in planning and decision making.

Week Four

What are we really after in regards to GIS and participation/involvement? (part 1: processes)

Week Five

What are we really after in regards to GIS and participation/involvement? (part 2: outcomes)

Week Six

How does the practice of Participatory GIS compare across the World?

Week Seven

What are some examples of Collaborative/Participatory GIS?

Week Eight

What are some more examples of Collaborative/Participatory GIS?

Week Nine

What are models, methods, and process for system development?

Week Ten

What are elements of a comparative approach to system design?

Week Eleven

How can we evaluate the use(fullness) of participatory GIS technologies?

Week Twelve

What are research opportunities in collaborative/participatory GIS?

Week Thirteen

What are student research interests in regards to a research paper?

Week Fourteen

How might we reflect on what we have learned this semester? What is the major challenge with your
research interests?

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